VeganMoFo is Coming!

VeganMoFo - Vegan Month of Food - is once again slated for the month of October.

This year I'm already way too busy and way behind on my internetting (I have a month of email waiting to catch up on) so I probably won't be an active participant this year, but I will be checking in as much as possible.

Dr. McDougall On YouTube

Looks like Dr. McDougall has a new YouTube page. So far there are 38 videos, including the Star McDougaller ones from his web site. Most are like this one, 4 minutes and under and filmed in front of a bare wall, but some are clips from speeches and presentations by him and others.

Been A While

I know I haven’t posted in a while. Winter has been depressing and tough, with all that snow. Depression turns into mindless snacking, and snacking on the wrong kinds of food. Non-McDougall foods.

And that leads to weight gain.

Which leads to more depression.

But now I’m back on track. My dinner menus are made out through June and every one is for a McDougall-safe recipe, most of them MWLP-safe. My freezer is full of fruit and veggies (plus my son’s off-plan frozen pizza), the pantry filled with canned and aseptically boxed no-salt added tomatoes. I have a few different kinds of brown rice around, both long-cooking bagged, like basmati and jasmine, and quick cooking ones like Success. I have plenty of fresh and frozen potatoes. 3 different kinds of oatmeal, too (old fashioned, minute, and steel-cut).

As I watch my family eat non-plan foods I mourn my loss, like losing a good friend. At those times I reflect on something I recently read on a weight-loss message forum:

Of course it isn’t fair, but you just have to accept it and move on.

I’m moving on again.

Hey! Portland People! See THIS?

If you live in Portland (You lucky dogs!) go visit Julie's food cart! I've been visiting her web site, Everyday Dish TV, for years and am so happy for her getting all this publicity - and having all this FUN - in Portland doing what she loves.

VeganMoFo Day 30 The Last Day and Rice Medley Recipe

I've been a bad VeganMoFo-er, but that's what happens when something like this happens on a month full of fasting for lab work, birthdays and holidays, vacation and doctor days, and a full pantry and freezer. Having a family who refuses to experiment doesn't help much, either.


But don't worry - I promise to post a bit more in the future. Isa's new book is out and Amazon still says "not yet shipped" even though many PPKers already got theirs. When it does come, I plan on making at least one meal a week from it, and if I can get a pic snapped before my husband dives in you'll see the results of my labors. I will have to fiddle around with them a bit to eliminate oils and such to make them McDougall-legal, but since they're supposed to be low-fat already it shouldn't take much.


Thanks to the more conscientious VeganMoFo-ers out there, and thanks for all your posts and recipes. See you all on the PPK and your blogs.


Wait a minute! I was just at Amazon to grab the book's link and see that my order now says Shipping Soon with an expected delivery date of 12/2/2010. And to think I pre-ordered it way back in June (?) and paid for 2-days shipping. (sigh) WHY do I even bother with Amazon pre-orders after being burned by them so many times? This is now the fifth pre-order (and the third book by Isa) with premium shipping I paid for and the product was NOT delivered on-time or even early, as other PPKer's got.

Oh, well. As for today's dinner, a simple rice dish from Mary McDougall. As is my usual, I'll use no-salt added tomatoes and skip the cilantro. This complete recipe usually makes 2 servings, not the 6 to 8 the recipe says. Who eats only a half cup or so of rice & veggie mixture for a meal?


                     
* Exported from MasterCook *

                               Rice Medley

Recipe By     : Mary McDougall
Serving Size  : 6     Preparation Time :0:15
Categories    : Low-Fat                         McDougall Acceptable
                Rice & Grains

  Amount  Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
--------  ------------  --------------------------------
     1/2           cup  vegetable broth
  1                     onion -- chopped
  1                     green bell pepper -- chopped
     1/2         pound  sliced fresh mushrooms
  1              bunch  green onions -- chopped
     1/2      teaspoon  minced fresh garlic
  1                can  stewed tomatoes -- (14.5 ounce)
  1                can  chopped green chilies -- (4 ounce)
  1         tablespoon  soy sauce
  1           teaspoon  chili powder
  1               dash  or two of Tabasco sauce
  4               cups  cooked brown rice
     1/4           cup  chopped cilantro

Place the vegetable broth in a large pot. Add the onion, bell pepper, mushrooms, green onions, and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients, except the rice and cilantro. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 more minutes. Add the rice and cilantro. Cook for an additional 5 minutes. Serve at once.

The McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook, page 105
1997


T(cooking):
  "0:15"
                                    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per Serving: 197 Calories; 2g Fat (7.8% calories from fat); 5g Protein; 41g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; trace Cholesterol; 327mg Sodium.  Exchanges: 2 Grain(Starch); 1 1/2 Vegetable; 0 Fat.

NOTES : Recipe Hint:  Use one of the seasoned stewed tomatoes, such as Mexican-style, Cajun-style, or Italian-style, for even more flavor in this dish.

Prep and cooking times assumes you have rice already cooked on hand.

Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0


 

VeganMoFo Day 25 Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our menu today will include mashed white and sweet potatoes, stuffing, canned cranberries, roasted carrots and Brussels sprouts, onion gravy, and biscuits. My son requested and will get mac & cheese.

My guys requested no desserts, as my son still has some of his birthday cake leftover he wants to finish  up and my husband prefers his usual fig bar cookies to any kind of pie or other holiday-themed dessert, and since my cardiologist yelled at me last year for having one small piece of vegan pumpkin pie, I don't dare eat anything that would make him mad this year.

We'll close out the day watching a movie on DVD called An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving. It'll be the perfect end to a perfect day.

VeganMoFo Day 24 - Vegan Thanksgiving Article

Now this is good news: Our local newspaper has an article, complete with recipes, about having a vegan Thanksgiving. I wish the papers would have vegan recipes more often, though.

Vegan Thanksgiving recipes everyone will enjoy! Pumpkin pie, gingerbread cookies and more

By Lindsay Goldwert
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Tuesday, November 23rd 2010, 1:06 PM

Courtesy of PETA

It's easy to make a few vegan dishes this Thanksgiving.

Have vegetarian or vegan guests coming to Thanksgiving? It's easy to modify your dishes to suit your non-meat eating guests. 

"It's never been easier to eat vegetarian or vegan," said PETA campaign manager Lindsay Rajt. "Besides, a lot of vegan and vegetarian choices are usually great ideas for people watching their cholesterol and heart health."

But what about how it tastes?
CLICK FOR RECIPE:
Toasted Bread with Roasted Fall Veggies CLICK FOR RECIPE: Vegan Gingerbread cookiesCLICK FOR RECIPE: Pumpkin Pie

Sometimes, it's just a matter of choosing your ingredients wisely. 

Leslie McEachern knows a thing or two about delicious vegan eating – she's been operating veggie-haven Angelica Kitchen in the East Village since 1982.

They make mashed potatoes without a drop of milk, cream or butter.

"We use fresh, waxy Yukon potatoes, whole cloves of garlic, good olive oil and salt and pepper," she said. "That's how we do it every day."

Mike Walter, owner of 'sNice in the West Village, makes comfort food for vegans and vegetarians. Even the marshmallows for the hot cocoa are vegan.

"Tofu cream cheese is a great thickener," he said. "I use it in leek and potato soup and lot of other stuff." 
A vegan-friendly trick that no one will even notice? 

Grate some fresh pepper into individual bowls, fill with extra-virgin olive oil. No one will miss the butter plate.

Here are some recipes that will please vegans and non-vegans alike because they pass the important test – they just taste good.

Related News

• Vegan Gingerbread Cookies
• Vegan PETA pumpkin pie
• Vegan Toasted Bread with Roasted Fall Veggies

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/food/2010/11/23/2010-11-23_vegan_thanksgiving_recipes_everyone_will_enjoy_pumpkin_pie_gingerbread_cookies_a.html#ixzz16CFapVgB

VeganMoFo Day 21 Excuses and A McDougall Lecture

Sorry for the absence - my husband is now officially on vacation and we've been busy. Food-wise, Friday the boys ordered take-out pizza and I had some veggies and rice; yesterday we had pasta with jarred sauce, and although it's not McDougall-approved, I tossed in some TVP strips. The doctor now against ALL processed soy foods although back in the beginning they were listed as good options and Mary McDougall had a number of recipes using things like Gimmelean, tvp, and soy cheeses. Today they boys are having burgers and I'm having the rest of last night's pasta. Tomorrow is our son's birthday and he requested his birthday dinner come from the other McD's, so it's back to veggies and rice for me. Tuesday they're having sandwiches from Blimpie and since the only veg option I know of is a Morningstar Farms veggie burger as the "meat" of the sandwich I'll probably finish up the rice and veggies. Wednesday is still up in the air, so maybe then I'll have a recipe for you.

To hold you in the meantime is this 75 minute long lecture from Doctor McDougall. It's from this year's VegSource Healthy Lifestyle Expo and is a prelude to his upcoming book,The Starch Solution (still not completed and no publishing date yet, AFAIK). I haven't watched the whole thing yet, but so far it's nothing he hasn't already stated and stressed so many times in the past about the benefits of a starch based food plan.

Here's the same lecture from his Vimeo page instead of YouTube. You can find over a dozen videos by him and his Star McDougallers there.


The Starch Solution from John McDougall on Vimeo.

VeganMoFo Day 18 Potatoes

Photo from Utopian Kitchen blog

Potatoes are such a huge part of the McDougall food plan. Do a search on the McDougall web site and it turns up thousands of references to the lowly spud. Many recipes in the newsletter archives and the McDougall books contain potatoes in one form or another. Telling how whole civilizations lived on nothing but potatoes is a frequent topic of Dr. McDougall's. The Mary's Mini (2 links) version of his food plan uses potatoes as an example of an easy day's meal - hash browns for breakfast, mashed for lunch and baked for dinner.

And why not? The potato is a very versatile veggie, and quite tasty even on its own, without any condiments or additions, even when made with no added fat.

And McDougallers aren't the only ones who think so. Chris Voight, the head of the Washington State Potato Commission, is doing a challenge where he's eating only potatoes for 60 days to prove they're not the deadly menace the low-carbers want us to believe. And he has the blood work results to prove it.

Today is a potato-heavy day for me, too. For breakfast I had a sweet potato that I made a few days ago; my baked potatoes for lunch are in the oven, and I'll be making an Irish Stew with a whole bag of hash browns for dinner.

Below is the basic recipe. I doubled everything except the beans. Why? Because my fridge is now devoid of any leftovers and looks empty. Besides, even though I grabbed the smallest cabbage the store had it made up to well over 4 cups of sliced cabbage.

For the broth I used the broth powder from Dr. Neal Pinckney. It's my go-to broth powder recipe and I always have a giant jar of it in the pantry. It's similar to the one by Bryanna I used to use but without the milk powder or salt.

Before cooking

                     
* Exported from MasterCook *

                             Irish Bean Stew

Recipe By     :Mary McDougall & John McDougall, M.D.
Serving Size  : 6     Preparation Time :0:15
Categories    : Low-Fat                  Vegan

  Amount  Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
--------  ------------  --------------------------------
  1             medium  onion -- chopped
     1/3           cup  water
     3/4      teaspoon  caraway seeds
  2               cups  hash browns, frozen
  2               cups  frozen mixed vegetables
  1 3/4           cups  vegetable broth
  4               cups  cabbage -- coarsely chopped
  30            ounces  canned white beans -- (2-15 ounce cans)
                        freshly ground black pepper -- to taste

Place the onion and water in a large pot. Cook, stirring frequently, for 3
minutes. Add the caraway seeds and cook and stir for another minute. Add
the potatoes, mixed vegetables, and vegetable broth. Mix well, cover, and
cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the cabbage and cook for another 5 minutes.
Add the beans and cook for 10 minutes longer, stirring occasionally.
Season with the pepper. Serve in a bowl.



Source:
  "McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook"
Copyright:
  "1997"
T(cooking):
  "0:24"
                                    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per Serving: 332 Calories; 2g Fat (6.5% calories from fat); 17g Protein; 64g Carbohydrate; 13g Dietary Fiber; 1mg Cholesterol; 537mg Sodium.  Exchanges: 3 1/2 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 1 1/2 Vegetable; 1/2 Fat.

NOTES : You don't have to thaw the frozen vegetables before using them in this recipe. As the potatoes cook, they thicken the stew. This is a delicious dish for a cool winter evening. Whenever we make it there are never any leftovers. We like to eat this with slices of bread to dunk into the broth.

Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

VeganMoFo Day 16 (belated) Appetite for Reduction

Two posts today to make up for missing yesterday.

Those of us who frequent the PPK know that Isa has a new book coming out in a few weeks, Appetite for Reduction. This is going to be the first book of hers that I don't have to make too many adjustments to the recipes to make them McDougall-legal.

Here are some photos from one of the recipe testers, NOT me. I can't stop drooling!

December 7th can't come quick enough!